Jul

And for those of us with vulvas, I’ve had a little bit of luck with some creams that include the active ingredient in Viagra to act as a local vasodilator. They aren’t available for us normally, but some places online have compounding pharmacies that make them. Not quite as effective, much more expensive, and don’t last long, but also not as many potential side effects as from oral vasodilators.

I found a psychiatrist who not only had experience with ADHD but also had it. He pointed it out to me in my late 30s and before that I didn’t really ever consider it.

If you want medication, you’ll need a psychiatrist. But if you just want evaluation and therapy then a therapist is enough (and a little cheaper if no insurance). I will say mental health providers are generally spread pretty thin these days, so expect a waiting list to get in with a good one.

Anyway, make sure it’s one who has experience with ADHD because a lot do not and tend to discount it or default to assuming people are just trying to get drugs.

Yeah, if you’re in the US there’s an ongoing national shortage. Started because of consolidation of manufacturers and the one factory that made generic Adderall getting flooded due to changes in climate where they’re located. Since then, the DEA has refused to allow additional production to catch up, much less to keep up with increased demand. So, likely there will be supply issues for many years to come.

I ration between each prescription. I got a cheap milligram scale and empty medicine capsules and I split mine for a few weeks before the new prescription and take the rest of the split ones while waiting. Usually it takes 3-4 weeks between each 90 day prescription fill, so I just adjust for that. Sometimes I’ll also reduce my dose on weekends I’m not doing anything, but I can’t do that too often since my job takes up all of my spoons from doing chores and such during most of the week.

As others mentioned you likely can’t take these for short periods and learn the full effect on you. Usually just stepping down and then slowly stepping up is what most need to do. That’s for most psych meds I’ve taken, though, not just stimulants.

As for me, I don’t get jittery from Adderall really, but I do from too much caffeine and I still need both to balance just right, just now I only have a single, small cup of coffee instead of the constant stream of it I needed before Adderall.

Also, yeah, even the extended release doesn’t last all day. For me it lasts about 8-10 hours before I need a booster and then I take an immediate release which only lasts maybe 4 hours.

But, this is different from reuptake inhibitors that most psychiatric meds are. In these cases you are stimulating production of hormones, with RIs you are partly just making the hormones you already produce stay around longer in your brain. So the effects of the stimulants only last about as long as the drug is in your digestive system and blood stream. Once the extended release coating finishes digesting, then shortly after, the effects wane. With RIs the effect builds up and lingers across doses. Though I’ve also taken an SNRI that I had to take twice a day to avoid them spiking or wearing off, so it’s not a hard rule that the effects linger for everyone. And that’s of course an oversimplification. You can read details elsewhere about SSRI/SNRI effects if you’d like to understand more.

When I lived with a partner I we would usually make some bigger meals on the weekend and I would do most of the work, but she would help here and there to make it a bit interactive and thus more “interesting” from an ADHD perspective. That would be good for various meals through the week. Doing it together made it easier for me. She would then help to fill in the gaps. Still more burden on her than me for that particular task. But we balanced that out with other tasks.

When you have a partner who doesn’t mind doing the some of the stuff you can’t get your brain to allow you to do and then you do the things they aren’t good at or don’t like to do, it helps. IMHO you don’t have to split each task evenly to make it fair as long you do different tasks that require a relatively equal amount of effort for the person doing it. Also, taking into consideration specialty tasks that would otherwise require hiring someone. Like I was able to do electrical work, computer repair, and some home repairs that she wouldn’t even be able to touch, for example. Those took a lot of time and effort and saved either time and effort or money. That should be considered when thinking about equitably splitting chores.

We also didn’t have the problem of gender role based task discrimination. Not sure if that’s something you need to deal with, but neither of us were men and both didn’t really prescribe to a gender role basis for types of chores, so there weren’t really those tasks that one of us felt should be done by the other gender and thus not counted as chores to be split. Everything was on the table for equitable splitting.

Now that I live alone, it’s a little more difficult, and I’m not good at cooking for myself, but at least it only affects me, not my current partner. So getting stuff for quick sandwiches for days I don’t have the spoons is fine, but you can’t expect a partner to make those sacrifices.

It is highly dependent on the terms of your probation. Call your probation officer or ask a lawyer. All other answers are going to be guesses. Doesn’t matter if you have a legal prescription if your probation explicitly prohibits possession of those drugs. Some dealers get their supplies from prescriptions that may or “legal” but aren’t ethical. Just giving an example of a reason your probation might prohibit possession even with a valid prescription. Sometimes in these cases, if you need the medication it will be dispensed in very small quantities by your probation officer or another program. So, no one on the internet without your case history and probation agreement and a legal background can answer 100% for sure.

Only scanned it, like a good little ADHD girl, but I think a lot doesn’t apply to me. I also think a big issue with ADHD and same with Autism is they both refer to a wide variety of conditions that just exhibit similar behaviors in childhood that are hard for caregivers to handle. I happen to likely have a little of both, though I’ll likely never get a true diagnosis as I was way too old when anyone even suggested I might be anything other than lazy, anxious, and depressed. For me, Adderall allows me to function as I’m expected to for work, but isn’t the right drug at all for actually helping me. Cymbalta (an SNRI) did help for a long time in combination with Wellbutrin. I cut the Wellbutrin when I started Adderall and ended up super tired from the Cymbalta because I didn’t need the strong antianxiety effect once I had more spoons to spend from the Adderall. But really I probably would have been good on it if they offered a lower dosage. I’ve been floundering to find a drug that can help me mask for work but not exhaust me, kill my libido, or cause anxiety.

But really I just need a more accommodating workplace that doesn’t require really early mornings for no good reason, or long hours of pretending to be busy to get in the required 9 hours when I already put in 12 hours worth of work in the first 4 hours. And maybe one week off per year that’s not just random burnout/meltdown mental health days and maybe 3 day weekend here or there since that’s all we’re allowed to take even if we “get 15 days of PTO per year”, but can’t carry it over to make a real vacation in during times when it’s not “too busy to leave” which is usually early in the year before PTO accrues. That’s what would make me have normal brain chemistry. Not more drugs.

But again, just me…or just some of us, I should say.

Mine doesn’t usually do that. Mostly I just lose time. But hyper focus for me is usually something very small and unlikely to involve much movement. Or maybe just the types of activities I tend to do don’t involve moving around the house while on a single focus. But that’s just my brand of ND probably. I don’t do autopilot like that. Could also be because of the Autism blended in there.

I have to consciously initiate any real physical movement, which will always require main focus even if for a second. No habits, no muscle memory/autopilot, almost everything requires executive function, just that often other things get unconsciously ignored even when I acknowledge them verbally. A lot of verbal stuff I guess can end up autopiloted, though, or at least my brain fails to record in my memory that I heard or acknowledged it, but only simple acknowledgements like “yes/no/OK”.

Amy therapy is OK if it helps you, IMHO. I think it depends more on if the therapist has experience with ADHD and you’re able to form a trust relationship. If you don’t need physical proximity for that, then it can work.

That said, the type of providers who are hired for those platforms are generally not as good due to low budgets. And most large corporations tend not to treat providers as well as small practices. But sometimes you might find someone just starting out who is actually really good or something like that.

It definitely allows me to rest more than usual and fall asleep way easier.

Might not be the right one for you. For me most stimulants don’t make things feel “faster” until the dose gets much higher. Also, I usually need a kickstart of caffeine (not too much though or I can get slightly jittery, usually one large, strong cup of coffee or two or so cups of strong black tea) in addition to my 25mg extended release Adderall to clear the initial fog. I then take another 5-10mg of immediate release Adderall in the late afternoon if I need to function in the evening/night.

For me the Adderall at those doses never really makes me feel “fast” or jittery. I have had some of that when I accidentally took 2 of the 25s, but even then it was minimal. It does keep me from sleeping, though, if I take too much, too late, but I almost always have trouble sleeping anyway unless I’m totally exhausted. Also, if I only use caffeine and no Adderall it takes a lot of coffee to get me hyper.

But I have a friend with ADHD who needs caffeine in order to sleep in addition to Adderall during the day and another who can’t tolerate Adderall at all and uses a different stimulant (but I can’t remeber what). Everyone is different. Try some different meds or combos, with your doctor’s supervision of course. Just don’t overdo it. Listen to your body and dont base your needs solely on anyone else’s. And it’s a good idea to regularly check blood pressure since even if a stimulant isn’t making your brain hyperactive, it can make other parts react poorly. Home Blood pressure machines are usually cheap and sometimes covered by health plans or allowable under healthcare accounts like FSAs and HSAs and, IMHO, a cheap preventative measure to avoid potential issues. Adderall doesn’t affect my blood pressure much, but it does for some and even with that history, I still check regularly.

Yeah, so loud and annoying. They kick up so much dust and just move stuff from one place to another and often they don’t actually pick the stuff up after, not to mention the fumes. Hate them all around.

Battery powered devices have gotten way better and while they may not be able to handle larger properties in one charge yet, the catteries are getting cheaper. I have a mower, and an edger and weed eater that all share a battery. I have a really small lot, but as long as I don’t leave the grass to get really long and keep the blades on the mower sharp (both of which mean more torque and thus more power is needed) I never drain the battery totally. And a good broom is way more efficient at cleaning the sidewalks than a blower. And I either bag or mulch the grass, so I never need to rake, so only a little gets on the sidewalks compared to letting the grass go everywhere. And honestly with how heavy those blowers and fuel are, it’s probably not that much more effort to use a broom either.

Overall it’s significantly less noise (not totally quiet of course), no exhaust fumes for me or my neighbors, and less kicking up dust and pollen that I’m sensitive to and I’m sure others are as well.

Yes, this is why I break it down into smaller chunks. That way I can stop at some point and not live in chaos for months. 😅

For me, over time the hunger issue subsided a bit. But I was already used to that just from drinking coffee prior to taking Adderall. Since we can’t rely on our bodies to tell us when we need something, and with stimulants those urges are suppressed even further, keeping a routine is a good idea. I still get cravings for bad stuff like sweets when I’m stressed or near meltdown, but otherwise i just make a routine of eating when I get up, and when I finish work. Unfortunately, my job often doesn’t allow time for eating, but when I did, I would always stop even if I wasnt hungry. On the plus side it makes eating healthy much easier if I’m already not eating to satisfy a craving then it’s already an unpleasant experience. May as well be healthy. 😁

A lot of people don’t understand that ADHD is a disability, and things are only disabilities because society says they are not normal and normal society doesn’t allow for them without assistance.

She is basically saying the same as telling a person with MS that they just need to try harder to just get around like everyone else who is too lazy to walk rather than relying on an expensive walker, cane, or wheelchair because the doctors who prescribed it are just in it for themselves. Sure some could eventually get where they’re going by force of will alone, but it’s not anywhere near the same as just being lazy.

Either that or modify all of society so that no one has to walk/do memorization for exams by making all tests practical knowledge test instead that are easier for people with ADHD.

Yeah, manufacturing company consolidation and a flood created a big shortage of Adderall a few years ago and that filtered to the other ADHD meds because the DEA limits the number of them that can be produced because they consider them “Schedule II”, the same amount of danger as fentanyl, which is crazy. And they never allowed them to make additional to make up for the lost stock while the factory was flooded much less taken into account the better diagnosis of ADHD these days meaning more people on them. I have a lot of issues getting mine due to the shortages, so I often have to ration. I got a milligram scale that’s mostly accurate, though not exactly, so I can split the capsules evenly and take lower dosages on my days off. Which sucks not being able to function outside of work, but survival requires work…

As for getting monthly prescriptions, that’s likely up to your insurance, doctor, pharmacy, and/or state regulations on “controlled substances”. I get 3 month supplies on my Adderall from my insurance sponsored mail-order pharmacy. They also allow you to have refills on the prescription, though my doctor prefers to write a new one each time. I also take Ativan, but it’s only a schedule 4 controlled substance and I dont take it regularly. None of my other meds are “controlled substances”, so not sure about others.

It’s not really possible to extract the drug from the extended release components without knowing exactly what chemicals they used and doing some chemistry to dissolve the components you don’t want in a chemical that only disolved that chemical and not the drug.

As for reducing dosage, I do that with lots of drugs for rationing purposes either due to shortages, insurance delays, or financial issues. If it’s a capsule, you usually can pull the two sides apart and take a portion of the drug inside. Some have multiple different components inside, but usually they are randomized enough during shipping that you’ll get a fairly even distribution of the components.

If they are solid tablets, it depends. Some you can cut with a pill cutter, but some will cause issues because they are designed to be digested more slowly and taking it cut can cause unpredictable release timing.

Disclaimer: not a doctor or pharmacist, just have had to ration meds a lot due to the crappy healthcare system in the US.

“AI” obviously wrote it. It reads like a teenager trying to fill a word quota for an essay assignment. Tons if repetition of useless information. And probably they get paid by ads and the longer the article is, the more ads load. I hate what “AI” and capitalism have done to science.

Yeah, overall, that drug is pretty cheap in its generic form. One of the cheapest I take. But it is really just a mix of a couple of amphetamines that have been around for a long time. Adderall was only expensive as a name brand due to the patent monopoly, even on remixed drugs. The generic version may or may not the exact same mix of drugs, but whatever it is, it’s cheap. I never took the name brand, though.

I take 1 per day, 25mg extended release.